Huisman, broadly, splits its business between design in the Netherlands, and production close to Asian customers in China. Huisman China, a subsidiary of Huisman, has been fully operational since April 2007. The new quayside features a Huisman designed and built 2,400m travelling quayside crane, the Skyhook, which the Dutch company said makes Huisman China well suited for the loading and installation of heavy steel constructions onboard large offshore vessels.

The 2,400m travelling quayside crane Skyhook is specially designed and fabricated by and for Huisman China. The crane has two main lifting configurations: a heavy lift configuration, capable of lifting 2400t at 30m outreach (maximum lifting height of 100m) and an extended reach configuration, capable of placing a 200t load at 90m outreach (maximum lifting height of 140m). The crane can travel along the 380m-long quayside, and a load of 2,400t on its hooks.

The new Huisman China quayside is specially designed to accommodate large offshore projects. The quayside structure, combined with the load curve of the 2,400m travelling quayside crane and the deepwater access of 17m, makes Huisman China easily accessible for various kinds of large size and deep drafted offshore vessels including semi-submersibles.

The quayside was opened during the name-giving ceremony of BigLift’s new heavy lift vessel Happy Sky. The vessel, built by Larsen & Toubro in India, features two 900m Heavy Lift Huisman Mast Cranes which were the first to be commissioned at the new quayside. The Happy Sky is the first of two Happy S Class vessels to be added to the BigLift fleet.

Big Lift said that in a response to market demands, the crane pedestals were made 4m higher than in the original plans, giving the vessel a lifting height unmatched in the world fleet of heavy lift vessels. Happy Sky is 155m long and has 18,680t dwt. Happy Sky is the first of two Happy S Class vessels to be added to the BigLift fleet.

The Happy Star will follow early in 2014, the fabrication of the vessel’s two 900m heavy lift mast cranes is currently in progress at Huisman China.

With the Happy Sky, BigLift’s fleet consists of 14 vessels with lifting capacities to 1,800t.